Dragging a photo in Photoshop opens in small size, and not its actual size (?)

"I just want to know why it's now opening at such a reduced size?"

When you drag a photo from Photos to an external editor, you are sending the current preview to the editor, as OT already pointed out. The quality and filename of the current preview will depend on may things, on the version of Photos you are using, on the pixel size of the original, on the codec of the original, or if the photos already been edited externally.

For example, if the image is small and has no external edits, the original may be used as the preview. If the image is large, Photos may create a smaller preview; if the image is a AW file and has been edited on an iPhone, the small embedded jpeg preview may have been used on the iPhone to edit the image and the image will have been downsized. Dragging and dropping to transfer the photo to an external editor is a game of chance.

To open your image in Photoshop you could also select the image in Photos and use "Image > Open in ..." and then select Photoshop in the menu that will appear.

Not sure I fully understand - but you can just simply drag and drop the PS-edited file back into Photos. That's what I've always done.

So, in effect, what you have been doing is exporting a Preview, editing that in Photoshop and then re-importing the edited preview as a new image. Leonie and OT have detailed the complications of working with Previews.

Using the Edit In command a full quality version is sent to Photoshop and you can edit it, then (as detailed by OT) save it back to Photos. Then the link between the original image and the edited version is maintained, you see only one icon in Photos - and that reflects the edits you made - and you can still revert to the original.

You're getting the preview version of the image instead of the full sized original. Try holding down the Option key while dragging the thumbnail to Photoshop.

If you want the edited version to show in your Photos library you need to do what Yer_Man suggested and save it in the same format, i.e. jpg or gif or tiff as the original. If you safe it as a Photoshop file, .psd, the library will not know it's been edited. So if you start with a jpg, flatten the edit and save as a jpg.

NOTE: Photoshop will save as a jpeg when the original was listed as jpg. This also is something to avoid.

I think the best way to do it is File>Export>Export 1 Photo (SHIFT+APPLE+E).

This gives you exporting options that are useful, like 8/16 bit, colour profiles, size, format etc.

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to export an image, work on it on Photoshop and then save it somewhere else, or even re-import it to Photos as a new image, then this is a good way to work. Though you might consider why you're using a parametric editor and databased photo manager as a file manager for PhotoShop. Bridge is a far more simple application for that, being as it is a file manager for Photoshop..

If, on the other hand, you're trying to use Photoshop as an external editor, where the image is sent from Photos to PS and you then want the edited version saved back into Photos, then my way is the only way to do that.

Dragging a photo from Photos to Photoshop was never the way to do it. You send the image over using the Edit With command. This is the only way the image can return to Photos.

Back since iPhoto days, D&D yielded the preview image. The preview is designed for sharing in most circumstances - sending an email to mother, adding a photo to a document, uploading to a website, that sort of thing. It is there to save the user the trouble of exporting every single time. Basically it's a mid quality, mid size, good-enough-for-most-things version of the shot. That's all.

No, when I'm working on important images I use this method of exporting (see screenshot) - then edit in PS, then bring it back into Photos. That works fine for me.

If that works fine for you, and you're happy with the result, then good for you. I was simply pointing out that you're not using the software as intended or at its most efficient. But you're happy.

But since upgrading to Monterey and Adobe CC, the files never open at full 3024x3024 size. I get sizes like 1773x1773, or even 886x886.

Are these display sizes? As in, does the full size image get exported when you drag and drop? If so, then your issue is with Photoshop. Or is the actual product of the drag and drop reduced in size?

It looks like what's going over in this version is the Preview. You're nt going to be able to change that.

Feedback - Photos - Apple

for big reports and feature requests.

What I meant my not using the app as intended is that these manager applications are designed to maintain a relationship between the master image and the versions derived from it. Your system breaks that link. It's not important to you, but it might go someway to explain why this change has come about.

If you have the current version of Photoshop, doesn't that mean you also have Lightroom? Mind you, that wouldn't suggest using drag and drop either.